Maimonides and Contemporary Tort Theory Law, Religion, Economics, and Morality Cambridge Studies in Law and Judaism Series

Maimonides lived in Spain and Egypt in the twelfth century, and is perhaps the most widely studied figure in Jewish history. This book presents, for the first time, Maimonides' complete tort theory and how it compares with other tort theories both in the Jewish world and beyond. Drawing on sources old and new as well as religious and secular, Maimonides and Contemporary Tort Theory offers fresh interdisciplinary perspectives on important moral, consequentialist, economic, and religious issues that will be of interest to both religious and secular scholars. The authors mention several surprising points of similarity between certain elements of theories recently formulated by North American scholars and the Maimonidean theory. Alongside these similarities significant differences are also highlighted, some of them deriving from conceptual-jurisprudential differences and some from the difference between religious law and secular-liberal law.

Introduction; 1. Initial presentation; 2. Tort liability in Maimonides' Code: the downside of the common interpretation; 3. The foundations of the Maimonidean theory: different goals for different categories of damage; 4. The deontological and religious elements of Maimonides' tort theory; 5. Consequentialist considerations in the Guide for the Perplexed; Appendix to chapter 5: the rules of liability and contributory Negligence according to Maimonides in the Guide 3:40 compared with Calabresi and Posner; 6. Revisiting the problematic texts of the Code in light of the Guide and contemporary scholarship; 7. Maimonides' standard of care: a differential liability model; 8. Maimonides as a pluralistic-differential scholar and contemporary tort law theories: a dialogue and lessons; 9. Reflections on Maimonides' tort theory (Guido Calabresi); Index.

Yuval Sinai is the President of Orot Israel College. He served as a Visiting Professor at Yale University, McGill University, Hebrew University and Bar Ilan University, as well as Associate Professor of Law at the School of Law at Netanya College. He has received grants from the Israel Science Foundation and Schusterman Foundation, and has received the Riklis Prize for studies in Jewish law.
Benjamin Shmueli is Associate Professor at Bar-Ilan University law school, Israel. He has previously served as a Senior Research Scholar at Yale Law School and a Visiting Professor at Duke Law School. He has received grants from the Israel Science Foundation, The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Schusterman Foundation, and the Israel Institute Research Grant. He has also received the Riklis Prize for studies in Jewish law.